CMS Delays Implementing Revised E/M Visit Policies
November 8, 2018 | Electronic Health Records | Legislation and Public Policy | Medicare and MedicaidOn November 1, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that certain policy changes in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule relating to the documentation, coding and payment structure of Evaluation and Management office/outpatient visits will now be delayed until 2021. The changes were originally set to go into effect on January 1, 2019. CMS issued a Fact Sheet summarizing the changes.
CMS made the decision to postpone the consolidation of Levels 2 through 4 office/outpatient E/M visits into a single payment rate for both new and established patients after many healthcare providers expressed concern regarding the change. Another postponed change will permit providers to choose to document E/M office/outpatient visit Levels 2 through 5 using medical decision-making or time instead of applying the current 1995 or 1997 E/M documentation guidelines.
In the meantime, in 2019 CMS will implement certain documentation policies under the new rule that are intended to relieve physicians from having to provide duplicative notations in patient medical records. According to CMS’s Fact Sheet, for established patient office/outpatient visits, to the extent that information is already contained in the medical record, healthcare providers will now have the flexibility to focus their documentation on what has changed since the last visit, or on the pertinent items that have not changed.
In a CMS Press Release from July 12, 2018, CMS Administrator Seema Verma referred to the changes as a delivery on the “pledge to put patients over paperwork.”
- ACOs
- Affordable Care Act
- Antitrust
- Behavioral Health
- Cannabis
- COVID-19
- Cybersecurity
- Electronic Health Records
- Employer/Employee
- False Claims Act
- FDA
- Fraud and Abuse
- HIPAA
- Home Health
- Hospitals
- Legislation and Public Policy
- Litigation
- Medical Devices and Wearables
- Medicare and Medicaid
- Nursing Homes
- Pharmaceuticals
- Private Insurers
- Tax/IRS
- Telehealth
December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018
- ACOs
- Affordable Care Act
- Antitrust
- Behavioral Health
- Cannabis
- COVID-19
- Cybersecurity
- Electronic Health Records
- Employer/Employee
- False Claims Act
- FDA
- Fraud and Abuse
- HIPAA
- Home Health
- Hospitals
- Legislation and Public Policy
- Litigation
- Medical Devices and Wearables
- Medicare and Medicaid
- Nursing Homes
- Pharmaceuticals
- Private Insurers
- Tax/IRS
- Telehealth
- Jennifer Abreu
- Brian R. Ade
- Ashley Algazi
- Michael J. Antongiovanni
- Mary Aperance
- Krystal B. Armstrong
- Brian L. Bank
- Brandon Barbaruolo
- Dion K. Bass
- Jill F. Bechtold
- Joshua Beckham
- Andrew Berks
- Christina M. Bezas
- Samantha T. Bibbo
- Jason M. Biegel
- Merril S. Biscone
- Alexander Blisko
- Patricia Bober
- Stuart M. Bodoff
- Lindsay M. Brocki
- Jonathan B. Bruno
- Jordan Bryant
- Jacqueline (Mecchella) Bushwack
- Michael C. Cannata
- David Cano
- Caitlin S. Cash
- Michele Chavez
- Kathryn Schulz Ches
- Kaitlyn B. Connor
- Sal Coppolino
- William Cornachio
- E.K. Cottrell
- Wayne M. Cox
- James P. Cronin
- Alexandra Cusano
- Brendan Dakin
- Melissa A. Dearing
- Nancy A. Del Pizzo
- Catalina E. De La Hoz
- Janice J. DiGennaro
- Christine DiGregorio
- John K. Diviney
- AbiDemi M. Donovan
- Amanda B. Drantch
- Yadira Duran
- Glenn H. Egor
- Jeffrey Ehrhardt
- Daniel Ehrlich
- Scott A. Eisenmesser
- Karen Eng
- Joanne M. Engeldrum
- Harvey S. Epstein
- Eric D. Fader
- Brian L. Feld
- Scott L. Feuer
- John Ficarra
- Gary Fields
- James R. Finn
- Kaitlyn E. Flynn
- Kate Fohrkolb
- Gabrielle Fromer
- Daniel E. Furshpan
- Avigael C. Fyman
- Jenna Z. Gabay
- Max Gershenoff
- Caitlyn Gibbons
- Laura (Mulholland) Gindele
- Maureen A. Glackin
- Erez Glambosky
- Ryan Goldberg
- Tim Gonzalez
- Stuart I. Gordon
- Paul Gorfinkel
- Sean Gorton
- Wallis L. Granat
- Joel M. Greenberg
- Jeffrey S. Greener
- David M. Grill
- Amanda Griner
- Keith S. Grover
- Walter J. Gumersell
- Lawrence S. Han
- Mohammed Haque
- Tamika N. Hardy
- Rosemary Harnisher
- Anthony Hawkins
- Nicole Hecker
- Jean A. Hegler
- Michael J. Heller
- Steven T. Henesy
- Peter Henninger
- Katherine A. Heptig
- Jennifer F. Hillman
- Brandi Holton
- Claudia Honan (Hinrichsen)
- Jeremy B. Honig
- Ryan T. Hyde
- Michael N. Impellizeri
- Deborah M. Isaacson
- Robert H. Iseman
- Louis T. Iturra
- Frank P. Izzo
- B. Edward Jaffe
- Rawson Jahan
- Ada Janocinska
- Katherine Jenkins
- Michael J. Jones
- Atara Kahn
- Geoffrey R. Kaiser
- Gene Y. Kang
- Bernadette Kasnicki
- Jay D. Kenigsberg
- Beyza Killeen
- Elan Kirshenbaum
- Michelle (Bholan) Klein
- Cheryl F. Korman
- Yaron J. Kornblum
- Michael A. Kotula
- Drew Krieger
- Evan H. Krinick
- Christopher J. Kutner
- Joseph T. La Ferlita
- Katie Lachter
- Katherine Lalor
- Matthew A. Lampert
- Marie A. Landsman
- Carol A. Lastorino
- Melissa K. Lee
- Jessica Lefebvre
- Stella Lellos
- Alexander Lev
- Barry I. Levy
- Lawrence A. Levy
- Cari Lewis
- David Lobl
- Jessica Flores Lynch
- Paul V. Majkowski
- Edwin A. Maldonado
- Benjamin P. Malerba
- Robert A. Maloney
- Christopher Mango
- Greg E. Mann
- Emily E. Manning
- Harini Maragh
- Patricia C. Marcin
- John Marino
- Henry M. Mascia
- Rebecca Matthews
- John M. McFaul
- Lauren I. Mechaly
- Douglas E. Menikheim
- Silvana Merlino
- Jamie (Eliassaint) Milfort
- Gregory D. Miller
- Morgan Miller
- Frank M. Misiti
- Morgan Moceyunas
- Nicholas G. Moneta
- Rebecca Morrison
- Dylan Mruczinski
- John P. Mulvaney
- Kenneth C. Murphy
- Anne M. Murray
- E. Christopher Murray
- Philip P. Nash
- James E. Nelson
- Mirielle Nezamy
- Kenneth A. Novikoff
- Moise A. Ogé
- Chloe Orta
- Thomas Paddock
- John Panagopoulos
- Michael F. Panayotou
- Alexander G. Pappas
- Alexa Pappas
- Ana Parikh
- Felicia Pasculli
- Justin S. Penchuk
- Domenick J. Pesce
- Albert W. Petraglia
- Jenna M. Pettograsso
- Joseph Pidel
- Eric J. Ploumis
- Sheila Pugliese
- John F. Queenan
- Evan Rabinowitz
- Frank Raia
- Gisella Rivera
- Pia E. Riverso
- Joanna B. Rosenblatt
- Burton R. Ross
- Timothy J. Ross
- Alex R. Rukab
- Lauren E. Russo
- Jeffrey P. Rust
- Alan S. Rutkin
- Andrea C. Sacks
- Catherine Salerno
- Eric Santos
- William M. Savino
- Catherine Savio
- Evan R. Schieber
- William Schleifer
- Brian S. Schlosser
- Michael Schnepper
- Thomas P. Schulz
- Paul Schwabe
- Garin Scollan
- Spencer Serling
- Steven Shapiro
- Sahil Sharma
- Wendy Hoey Sheinberg
- Syma Shulman Levine
- Amy L. Silver
- Sean N. Simensky
- Avi Sinensky
- Jaana Singh
- Michael A. Sirignano
- Joshua D. Smith
- Ariane Smith
- Joseph N. Salomon
- Karen E. Sosler
- Matthew V. Spero
- Levi P. Stoep
- Eric S. Strober
- James Suozzo
- Elizabeth S. Sy
- Joshua M. Tare
- Stanley J. Tartaglia, Jr.
- Jonathan Tilles
- Frank P. Tiscione
- Norton L. Travis
- Michael A. Troisi
- Lindsey R. Trowell
- Robert Tugander
- Nadia Udeshi
- Marc S. Ullman
- Frank A. Valverde
- Michael Vanunu
- Michael P. Versichelli
- Louis Vlahos
- Michael P. Welch
- Kristen L. Wenger
- Kyle W. White
- Amy S. Wiedmann
- David S. Wilck
- Jessica J. Williams
- Benjamin J. Wisher
- Alexandra Wolff
- Thomas P. Wolowski
- Rebecca Yin
- Stephanie C. Zaferiou
- Matthew J. Zangwill
- Aaron E. Zerykier
- Victoria Zorovich
- Steven M. Zuckermann
- Rivkin Rounds Staff
- Author Test